Daily Education with a Monster Girl
by DarKenn
Summary: Japan's recently established custom elementary school board is designed to have human and extraspecies children interact together, assisting in mankind and monkind adapting to each other's lifestyles. The focused subjects are a five-year-old human boy and an equally young female arachne. Their growing friendship will educate them both in knowledge, and social interaction.
1. A New Dawn

The Interspecies Elementary School opened a year ago, and was a surprising success. With this success, an influx of new students arrive this new semester. Many children, both human and extraspecies, are dropped off at the front of the school by their parents and guardians, while many others are dropped off by the scheduled school buses, all the while joyfully screaming, as they rush into the building, excited to learn new things. The last bus, however, has one student, who is...less than excited. The bus stops at the front of the school's campus, before its doors open. Out of the door, many children rush out, happy to be at school for the first time. Then, a single, exoskeletal leg reluctantly reaches out of the doorway, towards the concrete sidewalk. That single leg is then followed by several more, revealing the young arachne to the world. Her spider-like half is very dark, though with a very pale sheen of red as the sunlight reflects off it. She carried with her a typical backpack, colored red, with yellow undersides to the lid and straps. She wears an arachne cut variant of the school uniform all female students must wear during campus hours. Her hair was as pink as bubble gum, with black-beaded hair bands keeping up tiny pigtails, and her eyes were a vibrant shade of violet. However, at the same time, she was clearly nervous, as her eyes show signs of worry, and all eight of her legs tremble.

Her very first thought, upon exiting the bus, is,

 _This was a mistake. I need to get out of here._

However, before she could sneak back onto the bus, the door shuts, and the bus drives off. Now, all she can do is enter the building, as school security wouldn't just leave her waiting out there in front of the entire campus.

Upon entering, she is overwhelmed by what lied inside. The entrance hall is enormous! It looks like it could have plenty of room for all the people, lamias, harpies, centaurs, arachne and other young extraspecies in the entire school! Wait...

"PEOPLE?!" She screams internally. "So...many...people..."

She tries to keep herself steady, avoiding eye contact as best as she could, which was borderline impossible, with how many kids would be looking at one another constantly, not to mention with how many eyes she has. Soon enough, one student approaches her. She appears to be a tetra arms, known for their extra pair of arms, the horns on their head, their physical strength, and their tendency to steal valuables.

"Hello, there, Charlotte!" She exclaimed. "Ya havin' trouble gettin' along with everyone?"

"Y-Yes...?" The arachne replied.

"Well, ya've come to da right gal. All ya gotta do, to get along with ME, is pay up."

"With what?"

"Any valuables ya may got. Ya know, yen, bling, yor ma's necklace." The tetra arms then notices her hair bands. "Say, are these worth anythin'? Are these some kinda black pearls?"

"Ahh! No! They're just hair bands! Stop pulling!"

"Hey!" The tetra arms grabs the arachne's arms. "You listen. NEVAH tell me what I can't 'n can do! I'm the one who tells ya what to do. Now, ya gonna pay, or what?"

"I don't have anything! Please, just let go of me!" The arachne starts weeping. The tetra arms looks around for any adults who could catch her physically assaulting a fellow student.

"Ugh, fuhget it. Yor'e lucky I don't have time for this." The tetra arms lets go, and walks off casually.

The young arachne looks at her aching wrists. The tetra arms held her by the wrists so tightly, she couldn't feel her chitinous hands for a moment. She then runs away from the larger crowd, before she could get anymore embarrassed or hurt.

Later that morning, she went ahead to attend her first class, Extraspecies History. There are a lot of students in the class, roughly twenty five. The chaotic noise is very much present, as young lamias and harpies mindlessly chase each other around the room, and mermaids carelessly sing their songs. There is an adult in the classroom, a dragonewt. However, she did not feel like getting into riot control this morning, so she just sits in her seat at the side of the room, waiting for the teacher to catch their attention. The only kids who seemed to be minding their own business were the human kids, and the one pink-haired arachne. However, the noise subsides, as a human adult man steps into the room. Upon sitting at his desk, he is ready to speak to the entire class.

"Good morning, class," he begins, "and welcome to your first day in Extraspecies History! I'm your teacher, Hotate-san. You may refer to me as simply 'Hotate,' or 'Mihiko,' if you prefer. I hope you're all excited to be here this year-" His speech is interrupted by the whole class cheering. Mihoko chuckles, "Yes, of course, you are, that's to be expected. Anyway, this year, we're going to be learning about the history of extraspecies from all across the world, based on the knowledge we were given over recent years." His speech is gradually drowned out by the arachne's inner thoughts.

 _I don't think I'm going to survive this first day! I need to go home, back to my host family!_

Her thoughts are suddenly interrupted by a fellow student.

"Psst! Hey, spider girl!" The arachne turns to see who's getting her attention. It's a human boy, with green eyes, brown hair, and wearing the dark school uniform the boys are supposed to wear. "I saw what happened back at the front of the school."

"WHAT?!" She exclaims, bringing the attention of the entire class.

"Is there a problem?" Mihoko asks.

"Uh, no." She replies. "No problems, just found out something." She continues, showing increased annoyance towards the boy.

"No problems? Okay, then, meet me after class is over, so we can find out what the problem 'isn't.'" Mihoko then continues to speak to the class.

"Look," the boy begins, "I saw what you went through back there, with that four-armed girl, I just want to talk. What's your name?"

"Can it wait until after class...and my talk with the teacher?" She replies.

"Fine, but you need it."

"So," Mihoko states, "my assistant here, Ms. Newton, will be with us to help you, if you're having problems with any particular, well, problems."

"...Okay, fine," the arachne says, "but first, I want to know YOUR name..."

"Hitomo. You?"

"...Um...Aranea?"

"Well, that four armed girl calling you Charlotte makes sense now."

"Who is Charlotte, anyway?"

"Ever heard of Charlotte's Web?"

"No?"

"I thought spider people would've really liked that story. Just look for it in the library."

"Now," Mihoko continues, "since we are finished establishing class rules, let us now do roll call. Hitomo?"

"Here!"

"Aranea?"

"Present."

"Fivi?"

Later, when class ends, and Aranea finishes speaking to Mihoko, she takes Hitomo's advice, and starts reading a copy of Charlotte's Web in the library.

"Why does he want to kill the little pig?" Aranea asked. "Is he going to eat it?"

"Well, technically," a voice behind her says, "he's just trying to put it down, because it has a disadvantage against all of its older siblings, who are all bigger." Aranea turns to look behind her, noticing a young teenage centaur, with a black horse body, a very dark shade of violet hair on both her head and tail, light blue eyes behind a large pair of glasses, and sporting the centaur cut female school uniform. "Hello, my name is Equilene. What's your name?"

"...Aranea?" She replies.

"Well, Aranea, I see you're reading Charlotte's Web."

"Yes, I was told to read it."

"You're being given a book report by your reading teacher on the first day of class? And I thought _my_ classes were getting difficult."

"Wha-? No! I was told by a fr-...some other student."

"Well, are you enjoying the book?"

"Not really. I was told there was a spider in the book, but I haven't seen one."

"But you're only a twentieth of a way through the whole story. You have to be more patient than that."

"Wait, Hitomo wants me to read this whole book?!"

"Well, most likely not in one sitting."

"I'm not sitting."

"My point is that you can't read it all at this very moment."

"Of course I can't! I-"

"Hush! We're in a library, we need to keep our voices down."

"I don't have time to read this here, I have another class to go to."

"Just take the book with you."

"Really? Anyone can take books at any time?"

"Yes. All you have to do is rent-" Equilene notices Aranea left in a hurry right after she was saying yes. "...Aranea?"

Aranea, excited to read more of the book outside of the library, continues reading from the ceiling in a web hammock she quickly spun, while waiting for her science class room door next to her to open. She reads how the pig, Wilbur, is taken to a local farm, because he was becoming a burden.

"I still don't see the spider." She thinks out loud.

"Really?" A familiar voice calls. It's the tetra arms bully, again. "'Cause I see one of 'em, rite 'n fronna me. So, Charlotte, whatcha readin' there? Yor own biographe?"

"My name's Aranea," she replies, "and I haven't found out who Charlotte is, yet."

"Well, now, maybe I can keep ya frum gettin' spoiled." She negotiated, in a calm manner. "Hand me tha book." Aranea, though reluctant about it since her last encounter with the tetra arms, is willing to put up with her one last time. She climbs down from her web hammock, handing her the book. The tetra arms snatches the book from her hands. "Thanks! We're friends, now. Name's Treta. Catcha later."

"W-Wait!"

"What?"

"Aren't you going to read it?"

"Did ya not hear what I told ya dis morning? Ya gotta pay to earn ma respect, and ya just did, with dis dumb old book."

"B-B-B-But I wasn't done reading!"

"No duh! But whatcha gonna do 'bout it?"

"I'm-...I'm, uh..."

"Thought so. Now, go have fun in yer ceiling bed thing." Treta leaves, showing no remorse. At this point, all Aranea felt she could do was sulk, and sulk she did.

Even after her class starts, she wouldn't yet speak since her book was stolen. Like last time, the room is full of noise. However, the kids aren't quite as noisy as they were in the previous class, as many of them are really interested in all the science posters showing anatomy of animals as well as some of the small glass cages containing live animals. Suddenly, their excitement is halted, when everyone hears the door open. The kids quickly rush to any seats, as they realize their teacher is finally here. Their teacher, as a matter of fact, was a lamia, with an electric blue snake-like half, golden reptilian eyes, and surprisingly, blonde hair.

"Good morning, class!" She exclaims in excitement. "I'm your biology teacher for this year, Hotate-sama! You may refer to me as either Alima, or simply Hotate, whichever you prefer, as long as you are referring specifically to me!"

"Wait," another familiar voice calls out, getting the attention of Aranea. It turns out, that was Hitomo's voice. "I just had another class before this, and my teacher there was named Hotate-san, too, but he was a human guy."

"Ah, right! Of course! See, he and I realized we shared a last name, so we came to an agreement to have him refer to himself as Hotate-SAN, while I refer to myself as Hotate-SAMA. That's also why we ask to be referred by our first names, if you prefer."

"...Okay."

"Trust me, it's only a coincidence! Now, for roll call!" Alima pulls reading glasses out of her desk. "Let's see here...Cassie?"

"Here!" A land-based harpy squawks, leaping in the air.

"Let's see, eh...Aranea?"

"..."

"Aranea?"

"..."

"Is there an Aranea in the class?"

"Uh, she's right here, Hotate-sama!" Hitomo yelled. "She's just tired out!"

Alima makes a skeptical hum, but shrugs it off. "Alright, then. Who else...?"

"Aranea!" Hitomo whispered. "Did you enjoy the book?"

"No!" Aranea whispered back in anger.

"Why not?"

"Because Treta stole the book from me..."

"Treta? The four-armed girl?"

"Yes, she stole the book that I borrowed from the library."

"Yeah, she's not the most-...Wait, 'borrowed?'"

"...Hitomo?" Alima called.

"Here!" Hitomo turns his attention back towards Aranea. "Aranea...You can't 'borrow' a book from the library, you have to rent it. Otherwise, it's considered stealing."

Aranea, in a state of shock, whispers, "What?!"

"Yeah, you stole from the library, so we have to get it back from Treta, somehow, before you get in trouble."

Once biology class ends, lunch time begins. The extraspecies students start leaving to have something to eat.

"Wait!" Alima exclaimed. "Where are you all going?!"

"We're going to go eat lunch." One of the extraspecies students said.

"You don't have to! Mealtime foods and beverages are directly delivered to the classrooms!"

"...But we-"

"BACK TO SEATS, NOW, PLEASE!" With Alima giving the order, the kids all go back to their seats. Just as they do, though, other students enter through the door, carrying trays full of food items, consisting of chicken soup, leeks, cabbage leaves, and fried eggs.

"Alima," Hitomo asks, "don't schools usually serve beef, rice, and more vegetable-related soup?"

"Well, with the extraspecies students currently residing our experimental school, some rules had to be changed to better suit their dietary needs, as some of us have trouble digesting foods such as rice. Besides, these options just look tastier. Especially that chicken soup..."

"Uh...Alima? You're drooling."

"Eh...? Gyah! Sorry, I, uh, haven't eaten this morning." Upon her saying that, Hitomo gets an idea on how he and Aranea can sneak out of the classroom to find Treta.

"Well, why not go ahead and have some of the soup?"

"N-No, I'm not going to let my instincts get the better of me!"

"You suuure?" Hitomo says, grabbing the soup pot. "The soup's still freshly boiled."

"I, uh..." Alima starts drooling again. "...Okay, fine! I'll have a bowl!" She quickly snatches a bowl, and starts pouring some of the soup into it.

"Quick, Aranea!" Hitomo whispers. "Now's our chance to go find Treta! Let's go, before she notices us leaving!" Hitomo grabs Aranea's hand, as they quickly dart out of the room unnoticed.

"But I wanted some chicken soup, too..." Aranea says meekly.

Aranea and Hitomo look from room to room for where Treta may be.

"Where IS she?!" Hitomo asks. "She may not know how friendship works, but she's not a ditcher!"

"How do you know that?" Aranea asks.

"I thought she ditched last year, and she didn't really like me saying that."

"She has several strong arms. With that many arms, someone like her might like to exercise to stay that strong."

"So you're saying she might be at a gym?"

"Or a playground."

"Let's try both. We'll split up to see if we can find her at either place. If you find her, just try and sneak off with the book, so we can return it."

"Okay...What if she catches me trying, though?"

"Well, just run." After Hitomo says that, a chill runs down Aranea's spine. "You want to get in trouble?"

"No..."

"Then we have to do this! If we hurry, we can bring it back even before Treta gets caught with it! Let's do this, already!" Hitomo rushes towards the gym, leaving Aranea to head toward the playground.

Hitomo opens the door to the gym, looking right to left for anyone who may look like Treta, before entering. He looks all around the first floor, but doesn't see her anywhere in the court area.

Meanwhile, Aranea is reluctantly searching the playground for any sign of Treta, trying to do so in a stealthy manner. She has no such luck.

Hitomo, unable to find Treta on floor one, decides to head up to the second floor, where there's a running track, some treadmills, and a few small dumbbells lying around.

Aranea still finds nothing. She feels as if she searched all over for Treta, so she decides to head back and tell Hitomo that she couldn't find her.

However, Hitomo does, in fact, find the book, next to a drawstring bag with a skull marking painted onto it.

"Yep, definitely Treta's," he thinks, as he tries to take the book back unnoticed. He looks around, not noticing Treta anywhere. With that, he snatches the book back, and starts sneaking off-

"HEY!" Cries an angered voice. Hitomo stops right on the spot, and turns to face Treta.

"Ah, Hitomo!" She says, drawing a forced smile. "So nice to see ya again!"

Hitomo chuckles nervously, starting to sweat under pressure. "Yeah, it's really nice..."

"What're ya doin' with dat book?"

"Well, you see, I was going to return it to-"

"I'm sorry, Hitomo, but Crab Legs gave me dat book as a peace offerin', I wouldn't want it to be stolen. Now, please, givit back, or Imma beet so much stuff outta ya!"

"But what about the laws that say you can't beat up a person?"

"We're kids, dey'll fuhgive me fer throwin' a lil' tantrum."

"Uh- uh...WHOA, LOOK AT THAT THING!" He points in a random direction, which distracts Treta for just a moment.

"Dhere's nothin'- WHAT THE-?! HITOMO!" She grabs a bunch of dumbbells lying around, throwing them at Hitomo's direction. "YOU GET BACK HERE!" Hitomo dodges the thrown dumbbells, before running out the second floor door. He quickly rushes down the hall with the book, Treta hot on his tail. "Give me that book, you stupid boy!"

"I can't, it's not yours!"

"It was a trade for friendship!"

Meanwhile, Aranea's heading to the gym to tell Hitomo the news, whilst thinking how cruel her punishment could be, if she was caught with the book.

"Maybe we shouldn't be doing this." She thinks.

"ARANEA," Hitomo cries, rushing down the hall she was in, "LOOK OUT!" He nearly knocks himself into Aranea, only to have her barely leap out of the way.

"Hitomo?! Where are you-"

"Outta tha way, four eyes!" Treta yells, rudely shoving Aranea aside to chase Hitomo.

"Oh no..."

Hitomo continues running from Treta, as he tries to think of a way to slow her down.

"Stahp runnin', Hitomo!" Treta yells. "Ya know ya can't outrun me fer long!" Despite this, he persists running, and speeds past Alima from biology class.

"There you are!" Alima shouts. "Hitomo, where are you-"

"Can't talk, trying to live!" He responds.

"Wha-" Alima's then run over by the rampaging tetra arms. "Treta?!"

"Stop slowing me down!" Treta yells, continuing the chase.

"Hey! Stop running in the halls!" Alima then follows.

"Alima, wait!" Aranea yells, running behind while trying to get her attention.

Hitomo rushes to his biology classroom, slamming the door behind him. Soon after, the door takes a hard hit. Hitomo panics, trying his best to hold the door shut, while the rest of the class watches in surprise.

"Hitomo!" Treta shouts. "Open tha door, already!"

"No," he replies, "you'll hurt me!"

"Darn right, I will!" Treta, using the full force of all four of her arms, pulls the turned knob right out of Hitomo's hands on the other side. She opens the door aggressively, barging in. "Now, gimme dat stupid book, and I might go easy." Suddenly, her first right arm is grabbed by Alima's tail from behind. "What the-?!"

"Stop right now, Treta!" Alima exclaims in anger.

"LET GO OF ME, ALIMA!" Treta struggles, trying to reach Hitomo in a continuous fit of rage. Just then, one of her left arms is caught by a mysterious thread. "Who even-..." She turns to realize it was Aranea who intervened. "Four Eyes?!"

"First of all," Aranea states, showing a face of genuine anger, "stop calling me names!" She then yanks Treta's tied arm back, keeping distance from Hitomo.

"Aranea?!" Alima exclaims in surprise.

"Second of all," she continues, tying Treta's left hand to her other left hand, "I have SIX eyes!" She then ties a thread around Treta's feet, stopping her dead in her tracks.

"Aranea, stop!" Alima continues, trying to calm Aranea down.

"And, third of all, I'd have been fine with you calling me names, I'd have been fine with you not knowing how many eyes I have, but you do NOT hurt my only friend I've made!" Aranea finishes by tying the rest of Treta's arms together.

"Aranea, that's enough!" Alima finally pushes Aranea back from losing her patience with her. She then lifts Treta up after she fell.

"Wow, Aranea," Hitomo states, recovering from the assault, "I didn't think you had it in you..."

"Fine," Treta admits, "ya got me, what're ya gonna do now?"

"Well, Treta," Alima said, angry towards her and Aranea, "you're certainly going to be punished for chasing a student through the halls. That goes for you, too, Aranea, for not doing what I told you. Why were you even chasing him, Treta?"

"He stole the Charlotte's Web book from me!"

"I had to," Hitomo responds, "you stole it!"

"It was a trade!"

"You're the one who stole the book from the library?" Alima asks Treta.

"What?! No!"

"Don't lie to me!"

"She's not lying!" Aranea responds in defense. "...It was me. I was told I could borrow the book, but I didn't know anything about 'renting' it, so I ended up leaving the library with it without permission. I should be in more trouble than Treta."

"Hmm..." Alima ponders momentarily. "Still, Treta chased Hitomo, threatening to hurt him, even though extraspecies are not supposed to harm humans. But, at the same time, they've stated that that bill applies less, when children are involved, because of their naturally energetic nature, sometimes aggressive behavior...Okay, Treta. This one time, I will let you off easy. But don't chase human kids around anymore, or it'll be detention. Meanwhile, Aranea, that will be your punishment, detention."

"Okay..." Aranea responds.

"Now, go sit down, and you, too, Hitomo. And Treta..." Treta looks at Alima, with a stern expression. Alima then tears the small threads off. "Go back to your class."

"See that, Treta?" Hitomo asks, walking past. "Aranea stood up for you. _That's_ friendship." Aranea and Hitomo sit back down in their respective seats. Treta then leaves, with a look of silent contemplation.

"Alima?" Aranea asks.

"Yes?"

"What is detention?"

"It's where you spend a whole bunch of extra time in the current classroom, possibly even until after the school day is over."

"WHAT?!"

"Ooh..." Hitomo says in pity. "I am so sorry, Aranea..." Aranea, in a state of discouragement, rests her head on her desk.

"Now," Alima continues, "back to work, class! Can you tell which mermaid internal organ this is?"


	2. Squishy

Aranea's detention is finally over! She heads outside, with a relieved expression on her face.

"GRAH! If I had known what detention was, I wouldn't have helped Treta. I didn't know THAT was what detention was! If I did, I would've had her put up with it, because she deserved it, her, not me, her!" After her outburst, she realizes what time it is: Time for her to go home. However, on her way, she spots a small pink object on one of the decorative rocks outside.

 _Is that a wad of gum? Who would be so thoughtless to stick that there?_

Upon closer inspection, though, Aranea could see the gum moving. Then, upon lightly touching it with her fingertip, two circle shapes open up, as if they were eyes. A small appendage grows out of the top of the gum, like some sort of antenna. She quickly realizes this is not a simple wad of gum. The small thing shrinks away from Aranea, scared of someone so large and intimidating. "Don't be scared! I won't hurt you!" Aranea then places her finger gently back onto the thing, lightly petting its head, which seems to calm it down. "Want to come home with me?" The creature does not know what she said, but climbs onto her hand, excited to be pet some more. "I guess that's a yes!" Aranea wanders off, taking the pink blob along for the ride home.

Once home, she immediately cups the blob between her hands, trying to hide it from her host family. She then looks for potential food items it might eat.

"What do you eat?" Aranea asks it. "Does this grasshopper look tasty?" The blob shrugs it off, clearly not interested. "Yeah, I guess I should've cooked it...What about fish?" Aranea brings out leftover fish strips from the fridge. Again, though, the blob rejects it. "Chicken?" Shrugged. "Soup?" Shrugged. "Chicken soup?" The blob shrugged again, getting increasingly annoyed. "What haven't I tried...?" Upon further thinking, Aranea gasps, remembering one thing she really likes that isn't meat. "Honey!" She quickly rushes into the kitchen.

"Aranea!" A voice calls. "What's the hurry?"

"I need honey." Aranea responds.

"...For what?"

"I just...want some?"

"...If I find that bottle more than even a fifth empty, you'll be in trouble."

"I won't do that." Aranea then heads back to her room, with a full bottle of honey. She pours some of it onto a small dish, which the blob immediately crawls into to absorb. It grows only slightly, up to roughly the size of a mouse. "You're so adorable, for such a slimey thing." Aranea says, petting it with her finger again. "And squishy. That's it! I'll call you Squishy!" After naming it, she takes "Squishy" to the backyard, to play with it some more. However, all it does, once Aranea rests it on the ground, is crawl under her shadow, to hide from the heat. "Scared of sunlight? Okay, I'll take you back in." She cups her hands back around the slime, taking it back inside the house.

Later that evening, she puts Squishy in a small container on an end table next to her web hammock. "Good night, Squishy!" She whispers. "I can't wait to show you to Hitomo tomorrow!" She tries to sleep, but her excitement gets the better of her for half of the night. After just a short while of trying and failing to sleep, she decides to go ahead and watch Squishy until she gets bored of it. "I wonder if anyone knows what you are...Do they call you blobs...? Are there more than one color of blobs...? Where do blob babies come fro-..." At last, she falls asleep.

"Aranea!" A member of her host family calls. "It's time for school! Up, up!"

"I liked the hay in the horse, mother..." Aranea mumbles, hardly awake.

"Aranea!" He calls again, this time through her room's doorway.

"GYAH! What?! Is Squishy gone?!"

"...Who's 'Squishy?'" Aranea looks to her end table, noticing Squishy still in its container, but unseen by her host family.

"...Sorry, I was...tired..."

"Well, you have to hurry and wake up! Class is starting soon, and being late so early in the semester would be terrible!" With that, Aranea leaves her web hammock.

"Alright," she says, yawning, "I'm awake now, I'll be downstairs soon…" With a nod, her guardian leaves the room. "Oh, I'm so excited! Hitomo's going to love seeing this little Squishy blob!" She takes the container holding Squishy, putting it in her bag, so her host family doesn't see it.

Her bus ride takes some time to reach the school, but she is at least happy that she isn't anxious about going this time around. Rather, she is very eager still to show Hitomo the living pink pile of goo. She opens her bag, pulling out the container.

"Don't worry, I know just the place to put you during class." Once the bus stops, Aranea steps out of the doorway, with little hesitation. She looks for a place to hide her pet for a while, before noticing a huge flower bed.

 _When did they plant those? Oh, well, it'll make the perfect hiding spot for Squishy!_

She then opens the container and releases Squishy, resting it on one of the flowers.

"I'll be back soon!" She scurries off, to her next class. Squishy looks around, noticing just how many flowers there are. It takes its antenna, and sucks nectar from the flower it's resting on. Upon consuming the nectar, Squishy's eyes glimmer, as if it's overjoyed in the flavor of the nectar.

Aranea quickly arrives at her History classroom, with a really excited smile on her face.

"Aranea," Hitomo utters, "I don't see why you'd be this excited for History."

"I'm not," she responds, "I'm excited to show you a new pet I got yesterday, it's so cute!"

"Oh, cool, what is it?"

"It's a little pink blobby thing."

"…What?"

"It's a small blob that I found lying on a rock."

"You mean a pink slime?"

"Maybe? Are they really called slimes?"

"…Where'd you put it?"

"I put him or her in the new flower garden, so it could hide easier."

"Oh, that's not good!"

"Excuse me?"

"Newton-sama?!"

"Yes?" Newton asks.

"We need to be excused for a moment!"

"Okay, fine, just make sure you're back before Mihoko-san arrives." Hitomo and Aranea quickly rush out of the classroom.

"Why are we in such a hurry?!" Aranea asks.

"A pink slime in a flower bed is the worst thing that can happen!" Hitomo frantically answers. "Now, where's that flower bed again?!"

"Front of the campus!"

"Let's go! If we're quick enough, we might catch it before…it…takes…" Hitomo slows down his speech, when he notices Squishy, now much larger than before, roughly the size of a human child. It ignores their presence, sucking away each flower's nectar with a bunch of its antennae spread out all over the garden. "Well, we're too late. Oh well, at least there's not any more of those flowers." Suddenly, though, Hitomo's knocked over by the slime, as it darts towards the nearest tree. "Wait, what is it doing?!" Squishy takes its head antenna, and smashes it against the tree, leaving a gaping hole in it. Squishy then begins to suck the sap directly from the tree. Hitomo and Aranea momentarily watch in awe, before rushing to try and convince Squishy to stop. "Pink slime, stop!"

"Squishy," Aranea shouts, "stop hurting the tree!" Squishy ignores their screams, too caught up in the flavor of the tree sap.

"What is going on here?!" A familiar voice calls from behind everyone. Aranea and Hitomo slowly turn to face him.

"Mihoko?!" They both yell in shock.

"Why is there a giant pink slime here?!" Squishy stops sucking out the tree sap, turning to face the trio. It shares a momentary glare at Mihoko. "…Why is it looking at ME?" Suddenly, Squishy abruptly transforms itself, now looking female in appearance.

"OH DEAR!" Mihoko yells.

"What's wrong, Hotate-san?" Hitomo asks with concern.

"I have to turn tail, and head for the hills!" Mihoko immediately runs the other direction, towards the inside of the school. Squishy hastily follows, making some sort of vague laughter-like sounds. "Not good, not good!" Mihoko tries slamming the front entrance door behind Squishy, only for it, or, rather, her, to fit between the cracks of the doorway, giving chase again once reformed.

"This school really has the best soups!" Alima exclaims, slithering casually down the hall. Suddenly, she hears the sound of running around the corner. "More students running in the halls? This is a great start to the first week-" Her monologue is interrupted by Mihoko dashing past her. "Mihoko?! Where are y-" She's interrupted again, when Squishy mows her down, still pursuing. Alima slowly rises up, recovering from the hit. "I'm getting some serious déjà vu here…Wait, Mihoko's in trouble!" She then starts giving chase.

"Hotate-sama, wait!" Hitomo calls from behind her.

"What is it?!" She asks in a panicked state.

"You can't stop a slime! Not like that."

"Tell me how, then, if you know!"

"Get the nearest fire hose! Aranea and I will try to slow her down!"

"…If this fails, you'll be in big trouble!" Alima heads the other direction.

"Come on, Aranea!"

Meanwhile, Mihoko hides behind one of the locker walls, trying to stay out of sight of the giggling Squishy.

"This is the biggest adrenaline rush of my life…" He mumbles, before taking a quick sigh of relief. "At least I have a moment to catch my breath-" He's suddenly interrupted by a loud slamming noise on the locker next to him. He turns slowly to the banged up locker, noticing a familiar pink, golden-tipped appendage against it. He flinches and falls to the ground, knowing that Squishy found him. "This isn't going to end well!" However, before Squishy could do anything, she's momentarily knocked back by Aranea, from out of seemingly nowhere. During this moment, Aranea tries reasoning with her.

"Squishy! Stop chasing my teacher, please! This isn't like you!"

"Aranea," Mihoko interrupted, "how do you know that, exactly?"

"Hotate-san, you're still there?!"

"Uh- Right!"

Mihoko continues to sprint again, before noticing that Hitomo is waiting for him at the end of the hall, screaming,

"Come this way! We got an idea!" After hearing that call, Mihoko makes it around the corner.

After that, Squishy stops listening to Aranea, and decides to try and hunt down Mihoko once again. However, once Squishy turns the corner, Aranea watches her get pushed back by a powerful water stream.

"SQUISHY?!" She exclaims, quickly rushing to the end of the hall. She turns to her left to notice Alima holding the fire hose, then to her right to see the diminished Squishy lying there, now more child-like in appearance, due to vast amounts of her being washed away.

"It's still too big!" Alima shouts, ready to douse Squishy again.

"No!" Aranea exclaims, leaping in the way of Squishy.

"Aranea," Hitomo explains, "we have to shrink her back down. Otherwise, she'll cause more trouble again. Look at what she did to parts of this hall alone. What she did to the tree." After Hitomo says that, Squishy looks around, realizing just what a mess she made.

"No, no, no! I won't let you hurt her again!" While Aranea's standing up for her, Squishy looks towards her with a vacant expression, as if thinking of what she's doing. "She's the only one who I made real friends with, I bonded with her all day! I didn't know she was more than a pet, but I know she can learn!" While she speaks in this upset tone, everyone notices her starting to tear up, including Squishy. "Just please leave her alone…" She then falls on the underside of her thorax, her legs flat out, letting the tension sink in. While doing so, she feels her shoulder being tapped. She rises back up, turning to face Squishy. Squishy takes one of her antenna, and absorbs the tears from Aranea's cheeks. Thereafter, she hugs Aranea to calm her down.

"I'm sorry, Aranea." She whispers. Aranea, emotionally exhausted, hugs her back. All the while, Alima, after dropping the firehose, starts crying uncontrollably, hugging Mihoko.

"HOTATE-SAN, THAT'S SO BEAUTIFUL!" She whimpers.

"I'm just glad I'm still conscious…"

"I'm still not her friend yet?" Hitomo rhetorically questions. "Way to leave me out…"

"Uh…Hotate-san…?" Aranea asks, still hugging Squishy.

"Yes?" Mihoko asks back.

"May I be excused from class a little bit longer?"

"Why?"

"I need to change my uniform now…"


End file.
